Jul 9, 2010

Back when I was in grade school, they were going to change the country to the metric system and began to teach us meters, kilometers, etc., but somewhere along the way gave up. Actually, the metric system is easier to use, once you have learned it.

History shows that the US mint created the first decimal currency in the world in 1792. Congress first authorized the use of metrics in 1866 and in 1875 became one of the original seventeen signatory nations to the Treaty of the Meter. Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 "to coordinate and plan the increasing use of the metric system in the United States." It also established the US Metric Board, which was dissolved in 1982. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 amended the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and designated the metric system as the "preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce."

It is back. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued two publications calling for the amendment of labeling laws to allow the voluntary use of only metric units on some consumer products. It says that adoption of metric labeling will simplify domestic and international commerce.

So, the current Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA), which has both, is recommended to be the Uniform Packaging and Labeling Regulation (UPLR), which has only one - metric. This time they forgot the 'first teach 'em in school' part.

Only 91.44 meters for a touchdown, hmmm. Hey, don't judge me until you have walked almost two kilometers in my shoes. It's 28 today, damn it's hot!

Comparisons:

* 1 gram is about the weight of a paperclip.
* 1 kilogram is a little more than 2 pounds.
* 1 liter is a little more than a quart.
* 1 kilometer is a little more than half a mile.
* 1 meter is a little more than a yard.
* 1 centimeter is a little less than half an inch.
* 1 millimeter is about the width of a pencil point.

Since we have decided to go with one unit of measurement, maybe we should consider going back to one language (English) on our packages. . .